In 1996 a con man named Michael James Burns, Jr. came to Kauai and ran numerous cons including at Hawaii’s two largest banks, and by 1998 he was convicted and sentenced to continuous prison for five years, given partial furlough in late 1999 where he created Aspen Venture Group, unrestricted furlough in early 2000 where he was hired by the directors at Grove Farm, one of whom was a close associate of Ms. Schur’s husbands Barry’s good friend Gary Baldwin named Robert Mullins.

Mr. Baldwin became quite influential in local politics after Iniki as a result of his close relationship with Senator Dan Inouye.

During Burns extensive con spree the newspapers mentioned a Michael Barnes as running a fairly extensive crime spree around the same time as Burns and the same thing as Burns but nothing about Burns himself.

This was also around the same time that Baldwin was jumping all over Schur as a result of an article that Gary Hoosier wrote skeptical to the need of the creation of the Hawaii Tourism Authority that Baldwin appears to have been quite instrumental in creating, as a result of Hawaii’s prolonged economic malaise, that started primarily on Kauai as a result of the closed hotels following Iniki.

In the immediate aftermath of Iniki there was a strong push to reopen the hotels that stopped, around the same time that Baldwin started getting involved in the Yukimura Administration.

As a result of the pressure Hoosier left the Garden Island, and appears to have been replaced by former attorney Sam Blair, who wrote an article the following year about how the Kauai ethics committee looked into the relationship between A&B director Charlie King and Planning Commissioner Baldwin.

2002 must have been a bad year for Baldwin, first withdrawing from the HTA for “health” reasons, shortly after a scalding audit by Marion Higa, followed by his being picked up as a result of an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

Shortly thereafter Ms. Schur is transferred to California.

In 2006, after I found out about Burns, and then Foley, I contacted the doctor who filed criminal charges against Baldwin and in late 2008 I received them.

After Kusaka nominated Baldwin to the Kauai Planning Commission he said on his application that he had gotten here thirteen years earlier, or in 1983, when the reality is he was last heard of in Colorado, in January 1985, where his crimes were big news particularly in Aspen, where he had been an advisor at John Denver’s Aspen Colorado Windstar Foundation.

That was the same year Burns was starting his career in wines catering to shops and restaurants a number of which were in Aspen Colorado.

The Punalights Christmas Light show in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision is in it’s third year in the Puna district of the Big Island of Hawaii. 37,163 lights synchronized to 256 channels of LightORama hardware. For more information, please go to www.punalights.com

[youtube=http://youtu.be/Fp-vgzcyGqU]

There are only three more days left to view them.

To get there from Highway 130 you turn off on Maku’u Drive and then take a right on 18 St. The show starts at 6:45 and runs until 9:15 each night.

Jan. 3, 2012 marks the 29th anniversary of Kīlauea’s ongoing east rift zone eruption. This eruption, particularly events that occurred during the past year, will be the topic of an “After Dark in the Park” program in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Tues., Jan. 3.

On Mar. 6, 2011, a spectacular fissure eruption between Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō and Nāpau Crater on Kīlauea’s east rift zone produced lava flows that poured into a pre-existing ground crack and advanced through an ‘ōhi‘a forest. For scale, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists (lower right) can be seen walking toward the flow. USGS photo by Tim Orr

Tim Orr, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, will review the eruption, focusing on highlights from Kīlauea’s 2011 activity. The program begins at 7 p.m. at the park’s Kīlauea Visitor Center Auditorium. Park entrance fees apply.

The eruption began just after midnight on Jan. 3, 1983, with lava erupting to the surface along several fissures. By June 1983, the eruption was focused at a single vent. Over the next three years, lava fountains up to 1,500 feet high roared from the vent 44 times, building a cinder-and-spatter cone named Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō.

In July 1986, the eruption shifted to Kupaianaha, a new vent farther down the east rift zone. Lava poured from this vent nearly continuously for almost six years, burning and burying Kīlauea’s south flank, including the communities of Kapa‘ahu and Kalapana, in 1986 and 1990, respectively.

Early in 1992, the eruption returned to vents on the flanks of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. Over the next 18 years, lava flowed down the slopes of Kīlauea, inundating areas within and outside of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National park and often reaching the sea.

During the past year, Kīlauea’s ongoing east rift zone eruption has included two spectacular fissure eruptions, a dramatic outbreak of lava from the west flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, and, on Dec. 9, 2011, a new ocean entry USGS scientists named West Ka‘ili‘ili—the first ocean entry within the boundaries of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park since 2009.

Since the eruption began in 1983, lava flows have buried 48 square miles of public and private land, destroying vast tracts of native forest, nine miles of highway, and 213 structures, including homes, a church, and the Waha‘ula Visitor Center in the park.

While Kīlauea’s current east rift zone eruption has been its most destructive event in recent history, the eruption has also been constructive. Molten lava flowing into the sea has added about 500 acres of
new land to Hawai‘i Island.

This presentation is one of many talks, guided hikes, and other programs offered by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park as part of Hawai‘i Island’s third annual Volcano Awareness Month in January. For more information about this talk, please call 808-985-6011.

For a complete schedule of Volcano Awareness Month events, please visit the HVO Web site at www.hvo.wr.usgs.gov or call (808) 967-8844.

The Hawai‘i State Department of Health (DOH) today announced the new website addresses to apply online for a civil union or marriage in Hawai‘i. The new online process will be activated at 12:00 a.m. (midnight) on January 1, 2012.

Dr. Alvin Onaka, DOH state registrar, said, “Even though our Kinau Hale office will be closed for the New Year holiday, the public will be able to use our new on-line system developed in partnership with ehawaii.gov. Couples who use the online system will benefit from a more convenient, accurate and efficient process that will provide access to an electronic certificate within days.”

With the assistance of community groups, the Civil Union Task Force, marriage agents and performers, legislators, the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, and the Attorney General’s Office, the DOH has worked to create a statewide system to better serve the needs of our island state where as many as 30,000 marriages have taken place in a given year.

The new online system will accommodate anywhere from one to 1,000 applicants at any time.

For more information on applying for a civil union or marriage license go to: www.hawaii.gov/doh

The online application system was developed and is maintained via the eHawaii.gov program, a largely self-funded public-private partnership between the State of Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i Civil Union and Marriage Information Consortium LLC, a Hawai‘i corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV).

The eHawaii.gov partnership has allowed Hawai‘i to deploy award-winning applications such as: Hawai‘i Electronic Death Registration System, Hawai‘i Electronic Bench Warrants, Statewide Camping Permits, Hawaii Business Express and Online Motor Vehicle Renewals. Hawai‘i Information Consortium works with Hawai‘i state and county government agencies to enable them to conduct state business online and improve public access to government information.

The DOH monitors health status to identify community health problems and trends. An important part of this work is done by collecting, compiling, and analyzing records of vital events that include all births, deaths, marriages and now civil unions that take place within our state.